Administration of decongestant nose drops in the form of spray or drops to the nose rapidly decongests parts of the mucous membrane in the nasal cavity and makes breathing through the nose easier. Distribution studies show, however, that the nose drops do not reach the whole mucous membrane surface in the nose. With the traditional administration forms of nose drops, there are difficulties to reach, among other parts of the nose, the osties under the turbinates. It is desirable to be able to reach these parts at the treatment of illnesses, e.g. sinusitis, which cannot be cured by current local treatment.
Another way of administering solutions into the nasal cavities is by allowing a solution flow through a tightening olive, which fits to the nostril, on its upper side and can be attached to some kind of container or tube on its bottom. Although the olive fits the nostril, it is not possible to fill the nose and let the solution reach the upper and inner parts of the nose, as the solution runs back into the pharynx along the bottom of the cavities.
When there has been a need to irrigate the nasal cavities, because of mucous dryness or soreness, a transparent pear shaped container, "Nasal-Duck", holding about 90 ml of solution has been used. The container has a "neck" at one end and the top of said neck is inserted into the nostril at use. At use the container is half-filled with an isotonic solution containing sodium chloride and sodium hydrogen carbonate having a pH of 7.6. The patient regulates the flow of the solution by applying his index finger against a refilling hole on the upper side of the container. The described container, however, has some drawbacks as the solution easily flows back into the pharynx, and thus cannot reach the whole nasal mucous membrane.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,145 a nasal irrigation system is known, which uses a pulsating flow of isotonic sodium chloride in order to irrigate the nasal system. The solution leaves the nasal system either via one nostril or the mouth. The described device is only used in order to irrigate the nasal system not to administer drugs.
It has thus been a need for the development of a method and a device, which makes it possible to fill one nasal cavity almost completely with drug solution, thereby reaching the osties and covering the whole nasal mucous membrane surface while avoiding the solution to run back into the pharynx.